Two large, grease-stained paper bags; one small, foil-lined bag; two paper wrappers; four plastic sauce cups, with lids; three cups, one plastic, two wax-lined paper; a handful of crumpled paper napkins; and a receipt. That’s what I was left with after cheeseburgers for two yesterday. I’m sure you’ve had this experience too, of surveying the carnage after a take-out restaurant meal. Eating out is quick, delicious, and expensive–both in money (I paid $17) and in our impact on the world around us. All that paper and plastic came from the Earth, after all, and it’s probably going to sit in landfills for decades before returning to the soil.
What to do? Well, you could stay home: Cathy Erway, author of the 2010 book “The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove,” tried shunning restaurants. I spoke with her at the Austin festival South by Southwest about her experience and how buying restaurant food affects our planet. http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/thegreenguide/2010/06/eat-in-for-earth-the-hidden-co.html
